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Fly Tying
Willie Rip

hook: upturned eyes?

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I have a question about the you salmon/steelhead fellas use. I like the upturned eye. It just looks classic. Are these hooks 2x strong? I'm looking for size #8 mostly for bluegill, but since I catch the occasional catfish and striper, I'd be happier with a slightly stronger hook.

 

Let me know. Thanks!

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Typically they are a very heavy hook because they are designed for salmon/steelhead, two of the the hardest fighting fish on the planet and they lend themselves beautify for tying those classic patterns. IMO, they would be serious overkill for bluegill. Kinda like using a sledgehammer for finish carpentry. The lightest wire hooks are plenty good enough for them. Catfish or stripers...maybe. Never fished for stripers and catfish only a few times. Circle hooks seem like a better choice for catfish. They are heavy enough and are better suited for bait holding as well. If you are tying a streamer pattern to target stripers, then a salmon hook might work just fine.

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Hey, I don't do anything the conventional or traditional way. I don't even use rod and reel, handline only. With handlines everything has to be stronger because I don't have the flex of a rod to absorb the shock. That's why I'm looking for a stronger hook. In fact I boondog for bluegill, catfish, stripers and spotted bass the same you guys do out west.

 

I even put bait on my flies. I really fish for whatever bites the hook. I've been using old school sprout hooks. I like sprouts & limmericks, but, I'm more interested in the upturned eyes for the hook setting "potential." Although subtle the angle of the hook point changes from a downturned eye to a straight to upturned. I get far fewer hooks sets with a downturned eye because the hook point shallows out too much. More with straight eye, but I wanted to try upturned eyes as well.

 

Thanks, I'll check out Allen's.

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hi willie. i don,t know whether you know it or not but fly fishing is also fishing with a hand-line...most fly fishers set the hook by yanking the fly line..they feel the bite by holding the line..they work the fly by pulling on the line..they really don,t need the rod or the reel. lol.

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I use Alec Jackson steelhead irons a lot for steelhead and really like TMC 206BL for trout, both up-eye hooks. I am convinced you loose more fish on up-eye hooks, but I fish them because I think they look great and don't care if I loose a fish here and there.

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